Without public transportation in the form of trains and streetcars the fast paced urban development of the Bay Area, 1863 to 1915, would not have been possible. The first railroad in the Bay Area opened in 1863 and ran from San Francisco to San Jose. The transcontinental railroad opened in 1869, and soon there were rail lines around the state. The railroads made development possible and created a network of towns and cities.
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Gina Rose Halpern’s paintings are colorful, often exuberant works that incorporate references to many spiritual traditions, from Christianity to Buddhism to the nature religions of the world’s indigenous people. For Halpern, her work is not simply decorative or expressive but a form of healing. The 51-year-old El Cerrito artist has a career as vibrant and colorful as her paintings. She is an interfaith minister, teacher, and therapist who believes in the literal healing power of art.
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Michael Israel had been living in subsidized housing at 1040 University Ave. for only a week when fire swept through his building and put him out of a home. Like many of the 69 residents who were ousted by the Aug. 26 blaze at UA Homes, Israel had been a drifter, living in the streets of the East Bay, before rooting himself with the help of social service workers in the now scorched west Berkeley residential hotel.
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The Cal men’s soccer team got its first win of the season in dramatic fashion against Portland on Friday, tying the game with three minutes left in regulation before scoring a golden goal in overtime for a 2-1 victory.
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Mayoral candidate Tom Bates and Councilmember Donna Spring were the big winners at Wednesday’s Berkeley Green Party nomination event. Both candidates won overwhelming support in preliminary votes and are now all but assured the official endorsements, to be named Sunday.
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LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles County woman has tested positive for West Nile virus in what is believed to be the first case of a person contracting the illness in the western United States, health officials said Friday.
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Features

A dispute over a leaky roof has made finding authentic south-of-the border cuisine considerably more difficult for west Berkeley residents and has roused the mayor while forcing at least one single mother to lose her livelihood.
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SANTA CRUZ — Medical marijuana advocates outraged by a raid at a local prescription pot supplier protested at federal offices in several cities in Northern California and across the country Friday.
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NEW YORK — The smoke hangs thick at Pete’s Tavern, swirling through the 138-year-old pub as the lunch-hour conversation turns to the mayor’s plan to ban smoking in thousands of bars and restaurants across the city.
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SAN FRANCISCO — As many as 76 million people — mostly children — could die from water-related diseases by 2020 if changes aren’t made worldwide in the way communities develop their water systems and policies, according to a California think tank.
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NEW YORK — It makes an eye-opening story: knives, razors and pepper spray easily passing through supposedly beefed-up airport security. But it also raises troubling ethical questions: In particular, are journalists justified in breaking a law to expose weaknesses in enforcing it?
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SACRAMENTO — A survey of California students released Friday found that more than 10 percent of high school students have tried the drug Ecstasy, prompting the state to create a media campaign to target use of the drug.
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